SAN MARCOS, TX — The Texas State softball program opened the Sun Belt Conference portion of its 2022 schedule with a doubleheader split against App State on Saturday, March 12.
The Bobcats (12-8, 1-1) bounced back from its mid-week loss in College Station with a 5-0 win over App State (12-8, 1-1) to begin the day, before dropping the second contest, 3-2.
"(App State) outplayed us in game two," Texas State softball head coach
Ricci Woodard said. "They outpitched us and put way too many runners on base ourselves. We've talked about that over and over again: we can't allow teams to get the momentum of the game. And that's pretty much what happened today."
Jessica Mullins (7-5) was on full display to open the day as the young sophomore tossed six scoreless innings and scattered just three hits in the start before giving way to
Brooke Blackwell in the seventh. With her seven strikeouts in game one, Mullins passed former teammate
Meagan King (2018-21) for 10th on the program's career strikeout list.
Mullins wasn't the only Bobcat softball student-athlete to begin conference play on the right foot, though.
Samara Lagway, the reigning conference's player of the week, sent the first pitch she saw from a Sun Belt pitcher this season over the left field fence for a solo home run in the bottom of the third inning. Lagway's home run sparked a four-run frame for the home team as
Cat Crenek later followed with a two-run double to plate
Ciara Trahan and
Kylie George.
Crenek capped the inning's scoring output when she swiped home two batters later. Just an inning later, however, Crenek added to the Bobcat lead with a bases-loaded single in the bottom of the fourth.
The second game of Saturday's double dip had roles reserve as App State's Taylor Nichols (3-2) kept the Bobcats off balanced for the entirety of the contest. Both of Texas State's runs against Nichols came via miscues from the Mountaineers.
In the bottom of the first, Crenek scored on a wild pitch to tie the game at 1-1 after App State scored on a bases-loaded walk in the top half of the frame. App State added a single run in the third, before another bases-loaded walk made it 3-1, Mountaineers, when Texas State came to bat for the final time in the bottom of the seventh.
Claire Ginder, with the Bobcats trailing by two runs, led off the bottom of the seventh with a first-pitch double to the left-centerfield gap. She worked her way to third on a wild pitch, before scoring on a fielding error.
Karsen Pierce, after drawing a one-out walk, was lifted for
Hannah Earls and represented the game-tying run at first.
However, a flyout off the bat of
Dani Elder and a fielder's choice off the bat of
Kylie George brought a conclusion to the game before the Bobcats could tie the game.
The two teams will wrap up its three-game conference series on Sunday, March 13 at 11 a.m. CT at Bobcat Stadium.
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